One such Emerging or rising superstar of the World cup 2023 was swashbuckling Left handed New Zealand all rounder Rachin Ravindra. Rachin Ravindra who became famous mainly due to his name Rachin which originated as an amalgamation of the names of two Indian legends Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid stood out as a potent force and the primary reason for his team New Zealand to reach the semis before eventually falling out to Mighty India.
Many young and talented players grabbed the eyeballs of the cricket world and game lovers in the recently concluded ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Be it the likes of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer from India, Gerald Coetzee from South Africa or Dilshan Madushanka of Sri Lanka, many such young and future talents for their respective countries rose to popularity after recently concluded world event. So impressive were their talents that many of them came into the eyes of the IPL franchises setting up lucrative and exciting base prices for them in the upcoming IPL auction in Dubai on December 19th.
The elegant 24 year old Rachin Ravindra southpaw smashed 578 runs at an average over 64 and a strike rate of 106.22, predominantly after being promoted in the World Cup as an opener from initially being a lower order batter . In the process he scored three centuries and two half centuries and finished as the tournaments fourth highest leading run scorer behind the likes of Virat Kohli , Quinton De Kock and Rohit Sharma. This curly haired left hander also provided impetus with the ball providing wickets and an effective fielder thus proving to be an utility all rounder for New Zealand.
Such stellar performance from this young talent has definitely grabbed eyeballs of the franchises at the Auction table. Despite being priced at base price as low as 50 lakh only, it is evident that the talent this allrounder possess to survive and adapt in the subcontinent conditions would definitely be likely to harbor a bidding war amongst all the franchises present at the auction on December 19.
Batting in the middle order in IPL will be tough for Rachin Ravindra – Sanjay Manjrekar
With the IPL auction 2024 just round the corner, there are being ringing bells about the opinions from the former cricketers now turned commentators and experts regarding their picks of players to be played for a particular franchise and are vocal about it too on social media or at the Pre and Post Match sessions in the ongoing series.
Former Indian batter now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar reckons the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won’t invest in the New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra in the upcoming IPL 2024 auction on December 19.
However, Manjrekar feels Rachin Ravindra might not meet CSK’s requirement of finding a replacement for Ambati Rayudu, who has now retired. In a conversation with Star Sports after the India-South Africa first ODI, Manjrekar said:
“As a reserve batter, if it doesn’t cost too much after seeing how the auction goes. But I don’t see Mahendra Singh Dhoni changing his opening combination because they got virtually 80 percent of their runs from there. Batting in the middle order in the IPL will be tough for a guy like Rachin. He had to be in the top three and top two,” said Sanjay Manjrekar.
“If you ask me, to make the kind of impact at number four and five in the IPL for somebody like him will be tough. I don’t think they will be looking at that. They’ve got their foreign players.” he added .
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway formed a formidable opening partnership for CSK last year, helping them win their fifth IPL title. The franchise released the likes of Ben Stokes and seven others to free up a purse of ₹32.1 crore for the upcoming auction.
Now it would be really interesting to see how far the talent like Rachin Ravindra goes into the auction and whether CSK joins the race to acquire him.